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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260629
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260630
DTSTAMP:20260628T114549Z
CREATED:20260628T114549Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T114549Z
UID:15120-1782691200-1782777599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - SS Peter & Paul
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST AELRED OF RIEVAULX \n◊◊◊ \nThough the earth and all who dwell in it may rock\, it is I who uphold its pillars. \nThe pillars of the earth\, my brothers\, are the holy apostles\, especially \nthese two whose feast we celebrate today. They are the pillars who support holy \nChurch through their doctrine\, their prayers\, and through the example of their \npatience. These are the pillars our Lord upholds. Previously\, they were very \nweak and unable to support themselves or others. Yet this was a great \ndispensation of the Lord. For if they had always been strong\, someone could \nthink that they had always had this strength from themselves. For that reason \nour Lord wished to show first what they were of themselves\, and then \nafterwards to uphold them\, so that all might know that all their strength was \nfrom God… \nFor these pillars were very weak: obviously saint Peter was weak\, for \nexample\, when the voice of one maidservant cast him down. Afterward\, the \nLord upheld that pillar: first\, when He asked him three times\, Peter\, do you love \nMe? and three times Peter answered\, I do love you. For as Peter diminished that \nlove of our Lord in himself when he denied Him three times\, and therefore this \npillar failed and was broken; so through Peter’s confessing his love three times\, \nthis pillar was upheld. \nThat other pillar\, Paul\, was undoubtedly weak\, too… When he was \nprostrate and blind and led into the city; when Ananias came to him and \ninstructed him\, then he was weak. But hear how strong he was afterwards: I am \ncertain\, he says\, that neither death\, nor life\, nor angels\, nor any other creature \ncan separate me from the Love of God. \nAnd note that when Peter answered\, I do love you\, the Lord immediately \nsaid to him Feed My sheep; as if to say: Show me the love you have for Me in this \nway: by feeding My sheep. Therefore\, my brothers\, he who does not wish to feed \nChrist’s sheep\, falsely says that he loves God… \nIn each soul our Lord also has some sheep\, that is\, some virtues which he \nwho loves Christ must feed. These sheep are: charity\, humility\, spiritual joy\, \nand the like. We feed these sheep when we do works that make these virtues \ngrow in us. And each one of us must also feed these sheep\, these virtues\, in the \nothers. We do this if we so conduct ourselves before our brothers that their \ncharity\, their joy\, their humility and patience grow by our example. For how do I \nfeed humility in my brother\, if I am proud before him\, if I speak proudly\, answer \nhim proudly\, walk proudly? How do I feed obedience in my brother\, if he sees \nme contrary and disobedient? How do I feed his patience if I grumble\, am \nirascible\, or speak or make signs harshly before him? \nTherefore if you love Christ\, my brothers\, feed Christ’s sheep\, and you will \nbelong to these pillars which are upheld by Christ’s love. And let us place before \nour eyes the life and death of these saints and their reward; let us think that if we \nimitate their sufferings as we can\, without doubt we will be joined to their lot.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-ss-peter-paul-4/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260630
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260701
DTSTAMP:20260628T114654Z
CREATED:20260628T114654Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T114654Z
UID:15122-1782777600-1782863999@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nHANS URS VON BALTHASAR \n◊◊◊ \nThe Apostles are the founders of the Church\, officially chosen and called \nby the Lord\, whose first function will be to be eyewitnesses. They are drawn into \nliving community with the Messiah\, a relationship in which they will enjoy with \nthis man\, who is ‘God among us’\, a commerce that is fully human\, that engages \nboth their senses and their spirit. They are ‘those with him’\, ‘those who \naccompany him’\, and ‘those around him’. This is what they are\, and they will \ngrow more and more into this way of life in the course of Jesus’ life. They \nconstitute the original cell of God’s community with us\, which had been \npromised and is now being realized. \nAll those coming after them who wish to have community with God must \nbecome a part of this original cell. There are many others who come to the Lord\, \nonly to go away again\, many others who stay with him a while only then to leave \nhim\, or simply others who have a loose connection with him without any \nparticular calling. By contrast\, the Apostles enjoy a community with Jesus \nwhich has precise contours\, a community which he has consciously established \nand maintained\, which is founded on the definitive life-long renunciation of all \nelse: it is something wholly formed\, distinctive in shape. And yet it is not \nsomething magical imposed from above\, since the son of perdition will indeed \nfall away; rather\, it is the realization of the covenant-partnership between God \nand ourselves. \nEyewitness\, in turn\, is an association with the Lord in his public life\, in his \nPassion\, and in his death which is the communal\, human\, and realistic \nexperience of God which continues and fulfills the Old Testament’s promise of \nan earthly God-with-us. But this phase comes to an end with Jesus’ death; the \nApostles’ senses\, accustomed to his existence\, now fall into the void; there is no \nlonger anything there to see\, to hear\, to touch; the Apostles’ whole human \nexperience breaks off with the three-days-in-death\, then to resume anew\, \nwithout any traceable continuity\, with Christ’s Resurrection\, at a place whose \ndistance from the point of disruption can be known and measured only by God; \nand now\, during the forty days\, the association with the Lord will be \nexperienced with wholly new senses. \nThe eyewitness of the Apostles draws all its force from this last phase\, to \nbe sure; otherwise they could hardly bear witness to anything more than an \nextraordinary man who was prophetically gifted and who performed miracles. \nBut it draws its force not\, indeed\, solely from the witness of the Resurrection\, \nbut from the fact that the man who appeared to them was the same whom they \nhad known previously from long association and whom they had seen suffer and \ndie. Seeing him\, hearing him\, touching him\, observing how he eats\, the proof of \nthe wounds; all of this receives its full significance only in that light.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-440/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260701
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260702
DTSTAMP:20260628T114814Z
CREATED:20260628T114814Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T114814Z
UID:15124-1782864000-1782950399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM \n◊◊◊ \nSuppose a pagan should say: “Where is your proof that Christ is God?” I \nmust first lay this proof as a foundation since everything follows from it. But I \nshall not draw my demonstration from heaven or any such divine source. For if \nI say that God created heaven\, earth and sea\, no pagan will stand for this as \nproof nor will he believe me; if I say that Christ raised the dead\, cured the blind\, \nand drove out demons\, no pagan will accept that either; if I say that he promised \na kingdom and ineffable blessings\, if I talk about the resurrection\, the pagan will \nnot only reject my arguments but he will laugh at them as well. \nHow shall I persuade him\, especially if he is ignorant and ill-informed? \nWhat source of proof can I use other than one on which we both together agree\, \none which is undeniable and admits no doubt? If I base my argument on the fact \nthat he created heaven and the other things of which I spoke\, the pagan would \nnot find it easy to believe me. What is there which even the pagan admits that \nChrist has done and which not even he would deny? \nThe pagan must admit that from Christ came the family of Christians. He \nmust admit that Christ founded the Churches everywhere throughout the world. \nFrom these facts I shall furnish proof of Christ’s power; I shall show that Christ \nis God; I shall maintain that it is not the mark of a mere man to bring under his \nsway so much land and sea in so short a time; I shall make clear that it is not the \nmark of a mere human to call men to such lofty deeds\, especially men who were \npreoccupied with such strange customs or\, rather men who were caught in the \ntrap of such an evil way of life. \nAnd still Christ had the power to set the human race free from all these \nevils – not only the Romans\, but the Persians\, and simply every race of \nbarbarians. And he succeeded in doing this with no force of arms\, nor \nexpenditure of money\, nor by starting wars of conquest\, nor by inflaming men \nto battle. He had only eleven men to start with\, men who were undistinguished\, \nwithout learning\, ill-informed\, destitute\, poorly clad\, without weapons\, or \nsandals\, men who had but a single tunic to wear. \nWhy do I say that he succeeded in doing this? He was able to persuade so \nmany nations of men to pursue the true doctrine\, not only in what concerns the \npresent life but also the life hereafter. He succeeded in winning over these men \nto drag down their ancestral laws\, to tear out their ancient customs\, long and \ndeeply rooted as they were\, and to plant in their place other ways\, which led \nthem from the easygoing life to his own program of austerity. And he succeeded \nin doing this when the whole world was waging war against him\, when they \njeered at him and forced him to endure the most shameful death of the cross. \nThe pagans will not deny that the Jews crucified him and subjected him to \ncountless tortures; they will not deny that he still preaches his message every \nday. And this message flourishes not only here but also among the Persians\, \nwho even today are still waging war against him. For among the Persians\, at this \nvery hour\, there are multitudes of martyrs. Men who were more savage than \nwolves hear his message\, become more gentle than sheep\, and accept the true \ndoctrine on immortality\, the resurrection\, and the ineffable blessings of the \nmysteries.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-441/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260702
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260703
DTSTAMP:20260628T115000Z
CREATED:20260628T115000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T115000Z
UID:15126-1782950400-1783036799@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nWILLIAM OF ST THIERRY \n◊◊◊ \nIn order that your solitude may not appall you and that you may dwell the \nmore safely in your cell three guardians have been assigned to you: God\, your \nconscience and your spiritual father. To God you owe devotion and the entire \ngift of yourself; to your conscience the respect which will make you ashamed to \nsin in its presence; to your spiritual father the obedience of charity and recourse \nin everything. \nIn addition\, to make you grateful to me\, I will add a fourth and provide \nyou with a monitor for as long as you are small and have not learned to keep the \npresence of God before your mind. \nIf you will take my advice\, you will choose for yourself a man whose life is \nsuch that it will serve as a model to impress upon your heart\, one whom you will \nso revere that whenever you think of him you will rise up because of the respect \nyou feel for him and put yourself in order. Think of him as if he were present and \nlet the charity you feel for one another act in you to correct all that needs to be \ncorrected\, while your solitude suffers no infringement of its secret. Let him be \npresent to you whenever you wish and let him come sometimes when you would \nhave preferred him to stay away. The thought of his holy severity will make it \nseem as if he were rebuking you; the thought of his kindness and goodness will \nbring you consolation; the purity and sanctity of his life will set you a good \nexample. \nFor you will be driven to correct even all your thoughts\, as if they were \nopen to his gaze and visited by his rebuke\, when you consider that he is \nwatching. So\, as the Apostle bids: “Keep guard on yourself” with the greatest \ncare and\, in order to have your eyes always on yourself\, turn your gaze away \nfrom all else. The eye is a remarkable instrument of the body – if only it could \nsee itself as it sees other things. Now the inner eye is enabled to do this. If then it \nfollows the example of the outward eye and neglects itself\, giving its attention to \nthe affairs of others\, it will not be able to return to itself\, however much it may \nwish to do so. \nGive your attention to yourself; you yourself constitute abundant matter \nfor solicitude for yourself. Shut out also from your outward eyes what you have \ngrown unaccustomed to see\, from your inner eyes what you no longer love\, since \nnothing so easily reasserts its claims as love\, especially in younger and more \ntender souls. \nMake bold also to be wise at times and desire the better gifts. Be yourself a \nparable of edification for yourself. You have one cell outwardly\, another within \nyou. The outward cell is the house in which your soul dwells together with your \nbody; the inner cell is your conscience and in that it is God who should dwell \nwith your spirit\, he who is more interior to you than all else that is within you. \nThe door of the outward enclosure is a sign of the guarded door within you\, so \nthat as the bodily senses are prevented from wandering abroad by the outward \nenclosure\, so the inner senses are kept always within their own domain. \n  \nThe Golden Epistle – William of St Thierry – Cistercian Fathers Series #12 – Kalamazoo\, MI – 1971 – pg 45.11 \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-442/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260703
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260704
DTSTAMP:20260628T115115Z
CREATED:20260628T115115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T115115Z
UID:15128-1783036800-1783123199@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - St Thomas
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST PETER CHRYSOLOGUS \n◊◊◊ \nWhen Thomas heard from his fellow disciples that they had seen the \nLord\, he answered: Unless I see the wounds made by the nails and put my \nhand into his side\, I will not believe. Why did Thomas thus demand proof before \nbelieving? Why was he so devout toward the suffering Christ\, but so resistant to \nthe risen Christ? Why did a pious hand open again the wounds made by a \nwicked hand? Why did the hand of a follower strive to plunge anew into the side \nopened by the spear of a wicked soldier?… \nWhen the Lord died\, the devil’s power collapsed\, the prison of hell was \nthrown open\, the fetters of the dead were broken\, tombs were destroyed; when \nthe Lord rose again death’s nature was completely changed. The stone before \nthe Lord’s most holy sepulcher was rolled away\, and the linen cloths were \nloosened; at his rising in glory death took to flight and life returned; his body \narose never to die again. Why then\, Thomas\, were you the only one to make such \na shrewd inquiry\, demanding that the Lord’s wounds be shown as the only way \nto convince you? Suppose those wounds had vanished with all the other marks \nof suffering – what danger to your faith would not your curiosity have \nengendered? \nMy brothers and sisters\, piety made this search and devotion these \ndemands to ensure that impiety should not thereafter raise doubts about the \nLord’s resurrection. It was not only the doubts in his own heart that Thomas was \nhealing\, but everyone else’s as well; and as he was to proclaim these things to the \nnations\, this energetic advocate was diligently trying to discover how he could \nsupport the profession of so great a faith. Beyond question his spirit of prophecy \nwas greater than his doubt. For why should he have made such a request unless \nhe had learned from the Lord by prophetic inspiration that these wounds alone \nwere to be retained as proof of the resurrection? \nFurthermore\, the Lord of his own accord had shown the others what this \nman subsequently demanded. The text says: Jesus came and stood in their \nmidst and showed them his hands and his side. For he who had entered through \nclosed doors and was with good reason thought by the disciples to be a ghost \ncould not prove himself to their doubting minds except by the wounds that told \nof his passion. Then he came and said to Thomas: Put your finger here\, and see \nmy hands\, and put out your hand and put it into my side\, and be not faithless \nbut believing. Do this so that when you reopen these wounds which have \nalready poured forth water and blood to cleanse and ransom all humankind\, \nfaith may pour out over the whole world. Thomas answered: My Lord and my \nGod! \nSee how scripture shows not only a human body but also\, through the \nsuffering this body endured\, that Christ is\, as Thomas acclaims him\, God and \nLord. Truly he is God who lives again after being dead\, who rose after suffering a \nmortal wound; for although he endured so much suffering and received such \ngreat wounds\, he lives and reigns as God for countless ages.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-st-thomas-3/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260704
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260705
DTSTAMP:20260628T115225Z
CREATED:20260628T115225Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T115225Z
UID:15130-1783123200-1783209599@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Vigils Reading - Memorial of the BVM
DESCRIPTION:A reading from \nST THEODORE THE STUDITE \n◊◊◊ \nNever has anyone been nearer to God than the blessed and most \nwonderful Virgin Mary. Who could be purer? Who more sinless? She was loved \nso ardently by God\, the Divine\, infinitely pure light\, that he made himself of one \nsubstance with her through the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of her as \nperfect man\, while keeping entire his own unchangeable and unblended nature. \nHow marvelous this is! In his immense love for man\, God was not ashamed to \ntake for his mother her who was his handmaid. What condescension! In his \ninfinite goodness he did not hesitate to become a child of her whom he himself \nhad made. He was truly in love with the most gracious of his creatures\, and he \ntook her who was of greater worth than the heavenly powers. \nThe words of Zechariah the prophet do indeed apply to her: “Sing and \nrejoice\, O daughter of Zion; for lo\, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you\, \nsays the Lord”. And again it is she whom blessed Joel is addressing\, so it seems \nto me\, when he writes: “Fear not\, O land: be glad and rejoiced\, for the Lord has \ndone great things!”. For Mary is a land: that land on which Moses the man of \nGod was told to remove his shoe\, figure of the law\, for grace was going to take \nthe place of law. \nAgain\, she is that land which is established by the Holy Spirit himself\, as \nwe sing: “He laid the foundation of the earth”. She is a land that\, without having \nbeen sown\, has yielded the fruit which nourishes everything that exists. She is a \nland on which the thorn of sin has never grown: on the contrary\, she has given \nthe light of day to him who has torn up sin by the root. In short\, she is a land that \nhas not been cursed\, as the first one has\, with harvests of thorns and thistles\, for \nshe is one on which the Lord’s blessing rests\, a land bearing in her womb a \nblessed fruit\, as the sacred word declares. \nRejoice\, House of God\, land on which God has stepped\, you who have \ncontained in your body him whose divinity overflows all bounds. For he who is \nsimplicity itself has taken man’s complex nature; the Eternal has entered into \ntime and the infinite into limits. Rejoice\, House of God\, resplendent with the \nlight of divinity. Rejoice\, full of grace: your deed and your name are more joy- \ngiving than all joy. For your immortal joy\, Christ\, has come into the world\, the \ncure for the sadness of man. Rejoice\, Paradise happier than the garden of Eden\, \nwhere all virtue has grown and where the tree of Life has flourished.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/vigils-reading-memorial-of-the-bvm-12/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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